Chapter 271: The Unknown Hero and Funeral
"An unknown hero, huh," Aiden murmured thoughtfully.
Sirius slumped in a chair, covering his face with his hand.
"Alright, Kreacher, can you still find the place where Regulus sacrificed himself?" Aiden asked.
"Of course!" Kreacher responded eagerly.
"Take us there now, immediately, I order you!" Sirius said, standing up and grabbing Kreacher's clothes.
"But it's filled with dark magic left by the Dark Lord," Kreacher said, cowering.
"We're responsible for handling magic. Just lead us there," Aiden explained calmly.
"Fine," Kreacher nodded reluctantly.
Aiden and Sirius exchanged a glance and grasped Kreacher's hand.
After a shift in space, the three arrived inside a dark, foreboding cave.
"Here... where is he?" Sirius asked Kreacher urgently.
"Master Regulus fell into the water; there are many corpses beneath," Kreacher said, curling up in fear.
Sirius ran straight to the water without hesitation.
But once he touched the water, a piercing cold surrounded him.
His body stiffened, and he fell straight into the water.
Aiden's staff appeared in his hand, flickering at the tip. Several chains shot out, binding Sirius and pulling him back to shore.
"What... is this... thing?" Sirius asked, trembling with cold and barely able to speak clearly.
"I already told you there's dark magic below, and you still rushed in like that. Look, it's been activated."
Aiden raised his wand, and a light orb flew to the cave ceiling, illuminating the entire cave.
In the lake water, countless Inferi were continuously climbing upward with grotesque movements.
"Alright, from now on, you carefully identify which one is your brother. If it's not him, I'll cremate them all."
Aiden waved his wand, and a circle of ghostly blue flame surrounded the three.
An Inferius at the front lunged at the three, then immediately turned to ash in the Fiendfyre.
Sirius widened his eyes watching the Inferi horde, afraid of missing one and letting his brother's corpse be reduced to ashes.
As time passed, more and more Inferi were cremated.
The ashes from the burning piled up in a small circle around the three.
"I see him, Regulus! Aiden, at your eleven o'clock!" Sirius suddenly shouted.
Aiden looked in the direction Sirius was shouting. A corpse wearing dark green robes was advancing toward them.
With a finger gesture, the Inferius flew toward them.
"Snap!" Aiden snapped his fingers, and several white chains bound the Inferius.
Then he raised his wand, pointing it at the stone platform in the centre of the cave.
A complex magic array appeared at the wand tip, with magical power gathering toward the centre.
An attack spell roared through the stone platform, penetrating the entire cave.
"Kreacher, let's go," Aiden called out.
Kreacher immediately ran over, grabbed the group, and disappeared in a spatial flicker.
At this moment, Voldemort, far away in Europe, suddenly felt his spell being broken and immediately stood up.
"Master, where are you going?" asked a black-robed Death Eater nearby.
He kept his head down, thinking his vile gaze hadn't been noticed.
But as a Legilimens, Voldemort already knew everything.
With a wave of his wand, a Cruciatus Curse struck.
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking in your hearts! Also, I'm returning to Britain!"
After saying this, Voldemort disappeared into the night without explanation.
When he arrived at the cave, only a huge hole remained. The lake water and stone platform had all turned to ash under Aiden's attack.
"No~!!!" An unwilling howl echoed through the night.
On the other side, Sirius held Regulus's corpse and wept bitterly on the ground.
"What happened?" The huge commotion woke everyone up.
"Who is this?" Harry asked, finding the pale, waterlogged corpse very strange.
"The second son of the Black family, a hero who sacrificed himself fighting Voldemort."
After answering everyone's questions, Aiden took off his hat and placed it over his chest.
The next day, Sirius wrote to inform Dumbledore.
Dumbledore hurriedly rushed to the Black ancestral home.
"I've understood the situation. Let's hold a funeral for him," Dumbledore suggested solemnly.
After some preparation, Order of the Phoenix members gathered at the Black family cemetery.
Although the confrontation with Voldemort was becoming increasingly intense, all twenty Order members still attended the funeral.
Dumbledore rarely wore black robes, and the others also wore suits.
"Today, we have suffered a great loss. A warrior who fought Voldemort hidden in darkness has lost his life," Dumbledore said, his voice heavy and melancholy.
"He was as obscure as his name suggests, but we will not forget his sacrifice, because forgetting means betrayal!"
Dumbledore's voice became inspiring, giving everyone encouragement.
"Thanks to his sacrifice, we have successfully moved one step closer to killing Voldemort. Therefore, please remember him, remember his name: Regulus Arcturus Black!"
Then Dumbledore waved his wand, and Regulus's coffin slowly sank into the earth.
The surrounding soil gently isolated him from the mortal world. This hero finally found peace thirteen years later.
Aiden wore a well-tailored black suit. He took the flower from his chest pocket, placed it in front of Regulus's tombstone, and mourned for him for a while.
"I never thought, I really never thought..." Sirius said, tears glimmering in his eyes.
Harry stood beside Sirius, supporting him, experiencing the deep pain in his godfather's heart.
Aiden stood up, preparing to leave, but a black-robed figure appeared beside him.
"Sirius told me you got something from Kreacher," Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows.
"Tom's Horcrux," Aiden said, knowing what Dumbledore was getting at.
"Shall we go take a look together?" Dumbledore enquired.
"Let's go."
Reaching out to grasp Dumbledore, the two travelled through the collective unconscious sea back to Grimmauld Place.
"It can be used this way? No place with consciousness can stop you?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, you can raise mental defences to resist me, but whether they can be broken depends on how far the person has walked on the path of the mind," Aiden explained.
Then he led Dumbledore through the stairs. Dumbledore even bowed slightly to Kreacher.
The two came to the top floor. Originally there had been a ghoul here, but because the floor had been set up with multiple layers of space, it couldn't see Aiden now.
In the attic at the top of Grimmauld Place, Aiden had set up complex alchemical matrices.
Slytherin's locket was placed in the centre of the matrix.
"Are we going to clear out Tom's soul fragment like last time?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, I left hints for Salazar, so he should have made some preparations for it in advance," Aiden said mysteriously.
For some reason, Dumbledore always felt strange hearing Aiden directly call the founder by his name.